Late Tuesday Afternoon Nor'easter Update: Storm As Predicted, But A Few Surprises

Lovely in Norwell, Massachusetts today. Photo by
Steven Senne/AP

UPDATE: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday:

The winter weather advisory in Vermont fron the Green Mountains east   has been upgraded to a winter storm warning, in effect until 8 p.m. Wednesday.

This storm is over-performing and the snow accumulations are looking like they will deeper than expected everywhere in Vermont and eastern New York.

This seems especially true in the eastern half of Vermont.  Snow is locally heavier than many of us thought. At 6 p.m., heavy snow was reported at Montpelier.

Snowfall as of 6:30 p.m. has already gone well past expectations in the Green Mountains and points eastward. East Montpelier has been clobbered by 13.5 inches of snow already. North Wolcott has already reported a foot of snow. Ten inches has already come down in Elmore and East Orange.

The National Weather Service in South Burlington, Vermont says these areas are in for another six to nine inches of snow by Wednesday evening. These will be pretty damn impressive snow totals.  Especially since the center of the nor'easter passed so far east of New England. Usually, when that happens, it would be a non-event here in Vermont.

In western Vermont, the winter weather advisory remains in place, but still, four to eight inches of additional snow, is expected by Wednesday night. There might even be a little more than that in the far northern Champlain Valley and in northern New York.  Boy, this is quite a storm

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

Once again, eastern New England is reeling from a big nor'easter as of late this Tuesday afternoon.

Bad conditions are about to start waning in southern New England, but were still going full tilt late this afternoon in coastal New Hampshire and Maine.

Some impressive stats are coming out of southern New England. 

Here are some snow reports as of 4 p.m. And remember, these aren't final totals. It's still snowing, and not all reports have come in yet.

Framingham, Mass: 23.3 inches
Milford, Mass: 20.0 inches
Killingsly, CT., 18.3 inches
Foster, Rhode Island: 17 inches.

Winds along the coast overperformed as well. Here are some gust reports:

Falmouth, Mass.: 81 mph
Hyannnis, Mass: 79 mph
Nantucket, 77 mph.

A mess in Falmouth, Mass today.

Needless to say, there are many, many reports of power failures and downed trees across eastern New England. 

Snowfall reports have been highly variable. A couple slow moving, narrow, intense bands of snow formed during this storm on the western edges of this storm. One parked itself a little ways inland over east-central Massachusetts, which explains the snow reports out of Framingham and Milford.

Another one set up along Interstate 91 from a little south of St. Johnsbury, Vermont all the way down through Connecticut. Through most of Vermont, the band wasn't super intense, but did enhance snowfall today.

Especially in the far southern Green Mountains, which got it again today. Halifax, Vermont reported 18 inches of snow and Newfane clocked in at 16 inches as of late this afternoon.

Mount Snow, the southern Vermont ski area, had received 10 inches of new snow by mid-afternoon today, bringing the total over the past seven days to 50 inches new.

Elsewhere in Vermont, the snow was mainly light as expected, with widespread reports of two to five inches of new snow as of around 3:30 p.m. today.

In parts of the Green Mountain State, the snow has picked up a little bit in intensity in many areas. As the sun goes down, the bit of solar radiation coming through the clouds is diminishing, so snow is now starting to stick better.

If you are not home from work yet late this Tuesday afternoon, expect some slick spots on the roads.

Generally light snow will keep coming down across Vermont through Wednesday and Wednesday night. Some of those somewhat heavier snow bands might set up overnight somewhere over the area, but they won't be nearly as intense as those earlier today in southern New England.

Mount Snow Ski Area in southern Vermont received 10
inches of snow today so far, with 50 inches of new
snow logged in the past seven days. 

It's hard to say where, and even if these somewhat heavier bands of snow set up overnight, but some areas could get bullseyed by heavier accumulations than surrounding areas.

I'm thinking most places in Vermont will see another three to six inches of new snow between now and 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, with locally higher amounts.

Your Wednesday morning commute will probably be kind of dicey, so give yourself extra time for that.

As noted, further accumulations are likely during the day Wednesday and Wednesday night, especially over northern Vermont. Most places look like they'll get another two to six inches of snow during this time periods, with higher amounts in a few places in the north.

Which means that many places in Vermont will have slowly picked up at least of foot of new snow between early this morning and Thursday. We're back into deep winter, aren't we?

As noted, this morning don't count on a lot of melting of this snow through next Tuesday at least, even in the valleys. Temperatures will stay near or below normal through then. Most days through next Tuesday will feature sub-freezing high temperatures.

Here's how the blizzard looked in Hull, Massachusetts today: